This video shows what residents living near the new Chester Bus Interchange have had to put up with over 18 long months.
It's ranged from headache-inducing construction work to screaming students and now the drone of endless buses.
A longer version of this recording was played at a meeting organised by people living by the new Gorse Stacks facility held at the Quaker Meeting House in Frodsham Street.
The video was made by Oulton Place residents fed up with the noise of diggers and hammers – which is coming to an end – but also loud drunken students entering Trinity Hall late at night and now 100 buses an hour that trundle past their homes.
On top of this they are breathing in exhaust fumes being belched out by diesel engines and increased traffic, which the video can’t show.
Listening to residents’ concerns was Chester Labour MP Chris Matheson with ward member and Labour council leader Samantha Dixon who made clear her authority would pick up the bill for any noise insulation that proved necessary.
So far a total of 74 properties have been identified as potential candidates for measures such as triple glazing with a £200,000 budget set aside – although this won’t solve the problem of householders wanting to open their windows in summer.
Cllr Dixon apologised on behalf of the council for delays in the building programme and ‘poor communications' as locals suffered with construction noise for longer than necessary.
She continued: “The reality is the bus station is now up and operational. There are problems you have identified tonight that the officers are going to take away and I will make sure they take them away and respond back to you. What I would say is that the bus interchange we had before at the town hall was not fit for purpose.
“This new bus interchange offers a much more improved welcome to the city for people arriving by bus, by public transport. We need to get people to stop using cars to reduce issues around air pollution and the way you do that is you make public transport more attractive.”
Addressing concerns around student behaviour, Cllr Dixon commented: “Trinity Hall is a privately-run student accommodation unit. I have reported it to the police. It has gone to the problem solving group.
"The behaviour is not acceptable. I’ve taken it to the highest level at the university and I do not expect behaviours that you saw this term to happen again in October.”
